Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives

In this irreverent and illuminating book, acclaimed writer and scientist Leonard Mlodinow shows us how randomness, change, and probability reveal a tremendous amount about our daily lives, and how we misunderstand the significance of everything from a casual conversation to a major financial setback. As a result, successes and failures in life are often attributed to clear and obvious cases, when in actuality they are more profoundly influenced by chance. The rise and fall of your favorite movie star of the most reviled CEO--in fact, of all our destinies--reflects as much as planning and innate abilities. Even the legendary Roger Maris, who beat Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, was in all likelihood not great but just lucky. And it might be shocking to realize that you are twice as likely to be killed in a car accident on your way to buying a lottery ticket than you are to win the lottery. How could it have happened that a wine was given five out of five stars, the highest rating, in one journal and in another it was called the worst wine of the decade? Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how wine ratings, school grades, political polls, and many other things in daily life are less reliable than we believe. By showing us the true nature of change and revealing the psychological illusions that cause us to misjudge the world around us, Mlodinow gives fresh insight into what is really meaningful and how we can make decisions based on a deeper truth. From the classroom to the courtroom, from financial markets to supermarkets, from the doctor's office to the Oval Office, Mlodinow's insights will intrigue, awe, and inspire. Offering readers not only a tour of randomness, chance, and probability but also a new way of looking at the world, this original, unexpected journey reminds us that much in our lives is about as predictable as the steps of a stumbling man fresh from a night at the bar.

The books on our 2008 shortlist for the New Perspectives Category are:
Creating A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
by Muhammad Yunus with Karl Weber (PublicAffairs, January 2008)
Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work in creating
the Grameen Bank and evangelizing the use of micro-credit lending to alleviate poverty. He believes the next wave of possibility is social business: organizations
whose purposes shift from generating profits to solving
the problems of those in poverty.
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow (Pantheon, May 2008)
The Drunkard's Walk is a wonderful addition to a growing category that Amazon recently called "Why We Act This Way.
Read more

Amazon has posted its editors' picks for 2008. In the Business & Investing category, they chose:
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder, Bantam
A Sense of Urgency by John P. Kotter, Harvard Business School Press (Jack Covert Selects)
The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It by John Gerzema, Jossey-Bass
The Momentum Effect: How to Ignite Exceptional Growth by J.
Read more